Some call it a blog, that's fine by me. The restriction of opinions on morning radio have banished me to my own website to give you my two cents on whatever is on my mind. I may not be right, I may not have a clue. It may just be pointless babble. But it's just my two cents.

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TWO PENNIES' ARCHIVES
Your History, Your Heroes- Yung Joc

March 6, 2008

“I Do Good Things with my life too. The problem is, none of it’s funny.”- Doug Stanhope.

  BIRMINGHAM, AL-   Back at the crib for a quick minute this week for a little house cleaning. Or should I say “mouth' cleaning.

Dentist confirmed that I need to get a filling so I guess I’ll have to take care of that when I’m back home in April. The upside to getting a filling is the 30 minutes of laughing gas I’ll get to enjoy. 

The greater purpose for coming home was to do some new prank calls for the website.

     But since I was in the neighborhood I stopped by a local school to pollute young minds with promises of a brighter future after they get out of school.

 Speaking to a room full of children makes me nervous like you wouldn’t believe. I'd rather do the 3rd show taping at the Apollo Theatre on a Friday Night.

 

Pretty much any situation where I have to speak in a non-comedic fashion makes me nervous. It feels like I’ve been stripped of my power.

I spoke at a black college journalism conference while in Baltimore 3 weeks ago. It was fun to speak briefly with the students but if felt awkward writing a speech that didn't have many punchlines. Nothing kills comedy like having to stand behind a big podium.

But I digest.

My dad used to say,  “the problem with you kids is that you don’t know anything about where you came from. These schools fill ya heads with all that mainstream bullshit and you grow up not knowing the true struggle of your people in this country."

My father said this after noticing that one of my U.S. History books reduced the Civil Rights movement to a mere 3 paragraphs.

 “They had a whole chapter on World War II, and the Civil Rights movement was three times as long and a much more meaningful to this country than a damn war in Europe,”   he said.

Now, of course I disagreed with my dad. Growing up in Alabama as a child I was well versed (* or so I thought*)  in every aspect of the Civil Rights Movement.

 During black history month you’d learn about 20-30 relevant black people and then the school would take you around the state to various museums and monuments.

This was plenty for me. Well if my dad though that I wasn’t getting a proper education about the history of the black man, he’d flip out if he saw what I saw at this school.

        I had no idea of what to read to the children so I ran upstairs to the library to see what they had. Black History Month had just ended so a lot of the black biographies were on display under a banner that read…

"Your History, Your Heroes"
     Most of the books featured the usual Black History All-Stars. Fredrick Douglas, Malcolm X, and of course, Martin Luther Da Kang,

I was shocked to notice that there was a biography of Spike Lee, and as I continued down the display there was a book about Beyonce’ and even the ‘The History of Hip-Hop’.

  At first I thought that all three of these books were a little too soon but when I thought about it, It’s been 20 years since I was in Elementary school, surely in that time frame there have been new black pioneers that deserve to have their accomplishments chronicled for young people to read about.

But I digestive tract.
 Love him or not, Spike Lee was a groundbreaking filmmaker in the 80’s and his movies sometimes served as a catalyst for discussion of issues surrounding race in our country. A book about Spike lee is very justified.

Hip-Hop Music started well over 25 years ago. I think it’s cool that there is a book chronicling the history of the music. It  could help young people understand where all the present day artists get their styles from.

A decade or two from now this book could be as eye opening as that Jazz history class I took back in college. A book about Hip Hop’s History is justified.

 Now, Beyonce?…mmm I dunno about that. Is she popular? Sure.  But a Black history Hero?

     I’m on the bubble on a book about her. She IS a mega star. And young people love her, but I’d hesitate to say that her contributions to the world of music are memorable enough to be etched into the annals of Black history. That remains to be seen. 

 Beyonce is popular enough to where a book about her could lure children who would’ve otherwise been reading NOTHING to go to the library, Who knows, while they’re there they may grab a more educational book in the process.

   For that reason alone A Book about Beyonce is justified.

  This book however is NOT Justified.

Before I continue please allow me to say that I met Yung Joc at a DJ Record Pool Meeting in Tallahassee last spring. He was a panelist on a forum they held and he offered new artists insight on how to break into the record industry and run a label. He only had to answer questions for 4-5 mintues but Joc stood at the podium for almost an hour doing Q&A.

No hate in his blood.

His knowledge of the business side of music is impeccable. He’s been nominated for a Grammy and between his 2 albums Joc has sold a total of more than one million records.

However...

Keep in Mind the name of the Book Exhibit in the library is...

"Your History, Your Heroes"

Yung Joc's first album was released June 2006.

 Can you be a Black History Hero after just 18 months of exposure?   According to this school's librarian the answer is yes. A little bit of digging unearthed a line of over 50 books based on various hip hop artists.

Here's the links to both sets of books.

 HIP HOP BOOK LIST 1

 HIP HOP BOOK LIST 2

Some of the titles I found to be acceptable 

Some of the titles though, I’m not so sure about…

   

Christina Aguilera? (* I didn’t know that she was still considered hip hop*)

 I’m not hating on the concept of creating books that will get young people to read. But to put Yung Joc on the same book exhibit as Sojourner Truth troubles me a  bit. Hell, if Yung Joc is a "Hero" after just 2 years in the music industry, then the school librarian should look for a few more books to move to the "Black History Heroes" Display.

  

 Feel free to add more heroes as they come to mind. I want to see how long we can keep this bog going.